Våkner
by Valkyrie's Emblem
Summary: "Wake Up." Lukas and Eiríkur had to admit that the Dane and Swede looked familiar, but they knew they had never met before. So, why did the two of them act like they knew them? And why did they want them to "wake up"? NOT a Human AU. No pairings.
1. En - Å Finne

**Random idea I got a couple days ago. I decided to write it since I have reached the part of summer vacation where I am motivated to do absolutely nothing and have writer's block on top of that and am praying that this will help.**

 **Anyway, this isn't really a Human AU. You'll see what I mean soon. I also have some ideas to turn this into a series, but don't know if I actually want to. I will finish this, though, I promise.**

 **I'm also not completely sure if I picked the right genres for this. If you have any better suggestions in a few chapters, please tell me.**

 **The title means "Wake Up" in Norwegian Bokmål.**

 **Also, if I get an translations wrong, PLEASE tell me. Especially if I get any Norwegian wrong. I'm actually trying to learn that and help would be nice.**

 **Names:**

 **Mikkel- Denmark  
Berwald- Sweden  
Lukas- Norway  
Eiríkur- Iceland**

 **Others will hopefully be somewhat obvious from the context and can be found on my bio if not.**

 **Disclaimer: Jeg eier ikke Hetalia og jeg vil aldri. (I don't own Hetalia and I never will.)**

* * *

 **Våkner  
Wake Up**

 **En - Å Finne  
** **One - To Find**

* * *

"You found them yet?"

"Been with you the entire time."

"...So you haven't?"

Berwald sighed for what felt like the billionth time since the two of them had separated from their siblings and set out on their own. Not noticing this (as usual), Mikkel continued on.

"Why are we looking in Trondheim?" the Dane asked. "Shouldn't we look in Reykjavík or something? I mean, we've already looked in Oslo, Bergen, and Lillehammer..."

"Agreed on those three, here, Lofoten, and Tromsø before Iceland," Berwald reminded him. "Most likely places."

Mikkel frowned. "Why haven't we found them yet? I thought for sure they'd be in Lillehammer, considering how Lukas still kind of worships Skaði..."

The Swede didn't want to admit it, but he had been just as surprised as his brother. When their searches in the two biggest cities in Norway hadn't yielded any results, he had thought for sure they'd be in the former host city of the Winter Olympics. Then again, that had happened after they had been reborn. Maybe. He wasn't sure how old their fellow Nordics were now.

"Hey, you never did tell me why you agreed to look for Lukas and Eiríkur so easily. I thought for sure you'd argue that we needed to find your 'wife' first."

Berwald looked over at Mikkel, surprised he was bringing that up now. He had first asked why when they had arrived in Oslo, but they had been distracted and it hadn't been brought up since. Taking a moment to decide how to phrase his answer, he said, "Wanted to. But we need answers about what happened more. Plus there's two of them, if the fact that all seven of us are still siblings is any indication."

He saw Mikkel nod out of the corner of his eyes. Taking his eyes off the Dane for a minute to decipher what a sign said, he turned back to find Mikkel flirting with a few girls that were giggling at him. Sighing, he walked over to his brother, noting that he seemed to be a much bigger flirt than he was before.

It wasn't just him, either. While their basic personalities were the same, at least all of the Germanics seemed a little different. For example, while Ludwig was still as strict, no-nonsense, and OCD as ever, he seemed to be a bit more... lenient and willing to drop things, so to speak, and wasn't as obedient to authority, though that last had been a trait that had been slowly cultivated after WWII. Mikkel was as loud and annoying as ever, but he seemed to be better able to sense the mood than before along with the aforementioned flirting. Berwald would even admit that he himself was slightly more confident than before, though that unfortunately wasn't much of an accomplishment.

He had wondered why this was, but had eventually decided that it was because they had been raised in far different circumstances than before. While they were still the same nations as before, not having grown up in the Dark Ages had definitely changed them.

He just hoped that it was for the better.

Anyway, Berwald forcibly dragged Mikkel away from the girls that were giggling about him having a "potato stuck in his mouth", if he understood them correctly. Seeing an interesting store, he dragged his brother across the street into the cafe.

Mikkel blinked upon seeing the name of the cafe. " _Veldig Bra_ _Kaffe?_ Really? They named their cafe _Very Nice Coffee?"_

"Don't care as long as it's good."

"I don't even like coffee that much!"

"Get a pastry or something. I don't care." Turning to the employee behind the counter, the Swede ordered a coffee with extra sugar. Surprisingly, Mikkel actually ordered a pastry, and the man disappeared into what was most likely the kitchen.

Because of the fact that there was no one else in the cafe and the door hadn't closed all of the way, they could hear the man say, "To idioter kom inn." Berwald saw Mikkel open his mouth, probably to yell at the man for the insult, but both of them were shocked upon hearing the other's reply.

"Jeg hørte. Hjelpe dem du. Jeg snart hente Eiríkur."

It wasn't the words that made them pause.

It was the fact that they knew that voice, despite not having heard it for decades.

After a second, Mikkel asked in German, incredulously, "Did we seriously just find...?"

Berwald nodded. "Don't do anything. Don't want to scare him."

"But it's him. And if all seven of us are any indication, we've found Icy too!"

"I know. But you shouldn't do anything that'd make him run off."

Mikkel pouted, but the Swede could tell that his brother had listened to him and wouldn't do anything, which would hopefully make things easier for them. As happy as Berwald was to have found at least one of the other three Nordic nations, Lukas was _not_ someone to mess with. If they jumped at him and tried to insist that they knew him and attempted to force him to come with them, it wouldn't end well for them. At all.

"Unnskyld."

Berwald moved over before he realized who had said that. By the time his brain caught up, Lukas was already halfway out the door.

The Swede didn't blame Mikkel for muttering the... _interesting_ phrase that he did, though he himself just sighed and wondered where his coffee was. He knew that there was nothing they could do for now, so he might as well enjoy his beverage.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lukas frowned as he got in his car.

 _Why do they seem so..._ familiar _? I know that I have never seen them before... And they are definitely not trolls nor any other type of creatures like that._

 _So why does it seem like I should know them?_

Shaking his head in an attempt to banish those thoughts, the Norwegian pulled out of the parking spot. _Stop thinking about it. You will probably never see them again._

 _...Why did I think that. I am going to run into them more than once now. Great..._

* * *

 **Translations (All Norwegian):**

 **Veldig bra - Very good**

 **Kaffe - Coffee**

 **To idioter kom inn. - Two idiots came in.**

 **Jeg hørte. Hjelpe dem su. Jeg skal snart hente Eiríkur - I heard. You can help them. I'm leaving to get Eiríkur soon.**

 **Unnskyld - Excuse me**

 **If you guys are wondering how Mikkel and Berwald understand what they're saying, all three Scandinavian languages are basically mutually intelligible, meaning they would at least get the gist of what someone says. (Please note that this does NOT translate into writing.) It's not because they know Norwegian. They actually don't for reasons that will be clear soon.**

 **Skaði is the Norse goddess of skiing and winter and I think hunting. (Maybe. The Norse pantheon is kind of a mess at times.) I'd say that they're joking when they say that Lukas still worships her, but I haven't actually decided if he does or not, so take it however you want to.**

 **Mikkel and Berwald are two of the seven Germanics in my headcanon. They are, as follows: Gilbert (Prussia / East Germany), Mikkel (Denmark), Vash (Switzerland), Berwald (Sweden), Aneta (Bohemia / Czechoslovakia / The Czech Republic), Roderich (Austria), and Ludwig (West Germany).**

 **If you're wondering why my profile picture is currently the picture, it's because I couldn't find a good one. I'll find something soon. Probably.**

 **Next chapter will hopefully answer most of your questions about what's going on, so please don't beg me for answers yet.**

 **And please don't whine about the lack of Finland. Please, I'm begging you. I wanted to fit him in, but it didn't work. I'm sorry.**

 **Icy will appear in the next chapter.**

 **Anyway, like I said, I'm not too sure about this. I just got the idea and decided to write it and hope it helps with what I said before. Please tell me if this is the best idea ever, the worst idea ever, or whatever you think about it. Vær så snill.** **Please.**


	2. To - Rapporterer

**To - Rapporterer  
** **Two - Report**

Eiríkur was _really_ concerned about his brother.

Usually when Lukas picked him up from school (he really needed to get his own car) the Norwegian would endlessly ask him questions about how his day went and just plain out annoy him enough for him to threaten to get out and walk home, at which point the twenty-one year old would smirk and tell him something interesting that happened that day at work, or complain about how boring it was. He wouldn't ever admit it, but he actually _enjoyed_ the routine they went through most every day, and it helped him get a glimpse into his brother's mood, something that could be difficult sometimes.

So seeing Lukas idly staring out of the windshield and not even look at him when he got into the car set off Eiríkur's internal alarm.

"Okay, what the heck is going on?" the younger man asked, unable to stop the concern he felt from leaking into his voice.

At least it caught Lukas' attention. "Sorry, I did not hear you come in, little brother," he said, looking over at him. "How was school?"

"As stupid and pointless as always, of course. I can't wait until I get done in two days," the silver-haired teen said, rolling his eyes.

To his surprise and shock, the Norwegian just nodded and looked back out the windshield at the car in front of them. "Okay, what the heck is going on?" he snapped, causing Lukas' eyes to snap back to him in surprise. "Usually you're annoying the crap out of me the moment I open the door. You're not. _Segðu mér hað gerðist."_

Lukas looked at him. "You must be concerned. You switched to your favorite language."

"I didn't even notice..." Eiríkur said, surprised.

While he'd been born here in Norway, he had always been fascinated with Iceland. He didn't remember when it had started, though Lukas said that he remembered him getting excited over seeing pictures of puffins when he was three. He didn't think that was a good indication, however- there were plenty of puffins in other countries, not just Iceland. He could even find some here in Norway if he wanted to.

While he didn't know when exactly it had started, Eiríkur did know it intensified after they went on a trip to the country when he was seven and Lukas was nine. He couldn't explain why he was so drawn to Iceland, but he was.

Lukas seemed to be very amused by his infatuation with the Nordic country. It wasn't that he didn't like Iceland- it was the complete opposite, actually, considering the amount of nature photos from there he had on both his camera and computer- he just didn't understand why he was so attached. The self-proclaimed Icelander had just shot back that he was an _extremely_ patriotic Norwegian for reasons _he_ couldn't explain. Despite that, Lukas had managed to get someone to teach both of them Icelandic, which Eiríkur had been startlingly good at and liked to use in general conversation, causing his brother to tease him about it being his favorite language.

Shaking his head to get rid of the memories, Eiríkur said, "Whatever. Just tell me."

Lukas grimaced. Sighing, he said, "Two guys- a Dane and a Swede, judging by their accents-"

"Sorry for interrupting, but a _Dane_ and a _Swede? Together?"_

"There was enough similarities between them for them to be siblings or cousins."

"Ah. Continue on."

"The point is... it just seemed... like I _knew_ them, or at least should... but I know that I have never seen them before..." the Norwegian haltingly said, apparently not sure how to phrase his feelings.

The Icelander frowned. "Are you sure? You could be mistaking them for someone you _do_ know."

Lukas snorted. "The Swede, possibly. I could never mistake the Dane for someone else due to his ridiculous hair." He sighed, then continued, "They were also talking in German. I am not fluent, and I could not hear them that well, but it sounded like... they were talking about me after I said something."

"Please tell me you didn't tell anyone about seeing trolls again."

That got him lightly slapped on the back of the head. "Of course I did not. Besides, you can see them too. You cannot say anything.

"Anyway, if I am correct, they said something along the lines of 'did we just find', 'don't want to scare him', and I _think_ something about not wanting him to run off. What is more... they said _sleipur_ instead of _eisig_ for the word 'icy'."

Eiríkur was surprised. The fact that they spoke German wasn't surprising. The fact that they seemingly knew at least a little Icelandic was. As for the possibly correct translations... "Are you sure you heard them correctly?"

"Yes."

"That's... not good..."

"Thank you for the wonderful insight you have just provided."

They both jumped upon hearing the car behind them honk their horn. Lukas just rolled his eyes as he pulled into the road and started driving towards their apartment.

After a moment, Eiríkur said, "At least you'll probably never see them again."

He rightfully flinched upon seeing his brother shoot a glare at him. "Thank you for jinxing me even further."

* * *

Mikkel glared at Berwald the entire walk back to their hotel. He would've stopped if the Swede would have said anything, but he didn't.

Finally, after heading back to their room and after setting up their laptop so they could talk to their siblings, Berwald finally asked, "You still mad at me?"

"I could've caught him!" the Dane whined. "Don't roll your eyes at me!"

Berwald just sighed and turned on the laptop before navigating to the program they had managed to set up to keep unwanted eyes from seeing their conversations. That done, he finally turned to him and said, "Idiot. Wouldn't bail you out from jail."

"Meanie!"

"Ludwig, Gilbert, and Vash are on," the Swede said, not even bothering to point out how pathetic that 'insult' was.

"Cool! Maybe they've found someone!" the Dane said as he watched him make the final preparations for the broadcast.

"-told you they wouldn't be in Sicily," they heard Vash say as the webcam started.

"I told him that," Ludwig sighed. "He wouldn't shut up until I agreed to look there."

"I wanted to visit the beaches!" Gilbert beamed.

"...You got sunburned within five minutes and spent the rest of the week whining."

"N-no I didn't!" Apparently looking for any type of distraction, Gilbert finally noticed the two Scandinavians had joined them. "AWESOME DANISH BRO MIKKEL! And Berwald. Hi guys!"

"Hej Awesome Prussian Bro Gilbert! And Ludwig and Vash."

The three younger siblings all sighed at the exact same time. After a moment, Berwald asked, "Where're Aneta and Roderich?

"I got a message from Aneta earlier," Ludwig answered. "She is on a train to Warsaw and can't connect until later."

"She's just now leaving for Poland?" Mikkel asked in surprise.

"She was in Slovakia, trying to see if a personification for that country had been born. Before you ask, she has not said anything either way, so I do not know. She's probably keeping quiet if she did for his or her sake, though."

"Mr. 'I'm in love with my piano' just texted me," Vash said, speaking up. "He apparently found a lead on Erzsébet."

"That's great!" Prussia exclaimed. "Well, the fact that he found a lead is great. I'm not looking forward to the frying pan of doom, though."

Ludwig sighed. "Brother, if you don't like it, why don't you stop antagonizing her and Roderich?"

"It's too much fun to stop!"

"We found Lukas and Eiríkur," Berwald cut in, catching the other three Germanic's attentions.

"Better then the three of us," Ludwig muttered.

Mikkel looked at the Swede in confusion. "Wait, we've only seen Lukas."

"Said he was leaving to get Eiríkur."

"Oh yeah... I forgot about that... I was just shocked that we actually found them, to be honest."

"You've talked to him?" Vash asked.

"Well... not exactly..."

"No."

Mikkel glared at the Swede. "You don't have to say it so bluntly! Anyway, we know where he works, so we have a start at least."

"That is very good," Ludwig said. "That reminds me... Vash, did you find anything in your search?"

In addition to looking for Lili, the Swiss man was also trying to find _any_ reason why they had been reborn. None of them were putting much hope into his search, though.

"I did hear someone talking about a girl that _might_ be Lili yesterday, but I have not been able to confirm it yet. As for figuring out what happened... nothing."

They all sighed. "Why didn't Vati just tell us what happened?" Gilbert asked.

"He didn't know," Berwald reminded him, a hint of venom in his voice as he glared at his eldest sibling.

The Prussian held his hands up in surrender. "I didn't mean it like that!"

"There _was_ a group that was disbanded by the US government that was looking into so-called 'super humans' and was thought to be a terrorist organization due to some of their practices," Vash admitted, also glaring at Gilbert. "However, that was in 1997, seven years after whatever happened in that emergency meeting happened."

"Still look into it," Ludwig told him. "It is the only lead we've found so far. It may be the _only_ lead we'll get if Lukas and Eiríkur don't know anything when they wake up."

"Fine. I'll also see if I found Lili and decide whether or not to wake her up. I'll get back to you later."

"Great! Now come on, Luddy! I have to beat you in Mario Kart!"

"Wait, Bro-"

The remaining three blinked in unison as Gilbert turned off their broadcast. "Well... I will contact you later if I find anything. Goodbye." On that note, Vash shut of his laptop.

"That was disappointing," Mikkel muttered.

"What'd you expect?" Berwald asked.

" _Something,_ " Mikkel admitted. "I mean, we've been looking for close to four months now, since February. I don't get it."

"Europe is fairly big," the Swede pointed out. "Takes awhile to look through it."

"True..." the Dane sighed, throwing himself onto the hotel bed. "Oh, these are actually soft mattresses! Jeg elsker dig Trondheim!"

As he cuddled with the bed and made some... interesting noises, Berwald sighed and took out a notepad. Getting sick of hearing the noises his brother was making, he threw the empty pen at him, causing the Dane to scream in exaggerated pain. "Stop loving the bed and help me brainstorm."

"That hurt Berry!"

Berwald just turned and glared at Mikkel, causing him to flinch and attempt to build a wall pillows. _"Kalla mig inte 'Berry',"_ he hissed.

"I won't! I won't! I promise!"

"You keep saying that..."

* * *

 **Translations:**

 **Segðu mér hvað gerðist. (Icelandic) - Tell me what happened.**

 **Sleipur (Icelandic) - Icy**

 **Eisig (German) - Icy**

 **Hej (Danish) - Hi**

 **Vati (German) - Daddy (Yes, their dad is who you probably think it is. It's a long story and will be brought up later.)**

 **Jeg elsker dig Trondheim (Danish) - I love you Trondheim**

 **Kalla mig inte 'Berry' (Swedish) - Do not call me 'Berry'**

 **Why are Mikkel and Gilbert so good at not letting me write a purely serious scene? Granted, it wasn't really important for it to be, but still...**

 **Anyway, in case you didn't completely understand what's going on, the Germanics split up after their father's death to look for some of the other countries. Mikkel and Berwald obviously looked for and have found Lukas and Eiríkur. Ludwig and Gilbert are looking for the Italies (yes, plural; if Gilbert's still here so is Romano), Vash is looking for both Lili and possible information about what caused them to be reborn, Roderich is looking for Erzsébet (Hungary), and Aneta was trying to find out if Slovakia had been born and is now heading to look for Poland.**

 **If any of you guys caught it, yes,** **Eiríkur is two years younger than Lukas, which means he's about to turn 19. I'm throwing the poor Icelander a bone here. Or am I? Maybe whenever they find America and Canada they'll turn out to be in their twenties... :P**

 **Also, don't expect to see an update this quick again.**

 **Abc: Thanks! Seeing as canon!Czech is just Hima writing a couple notes about her and I don't think there's even a sketch like there is for the rest of the UK, I wish there was more to go off of. That way if the character offends someone it's not my fault. (If someone from the Czech Republic would like to comment and help it would be appreciated. I have a character idea based on different fan made ones I've seen, but I am open to ideas and will welcome them.)**

 **Edit: So, I didn't know about the new strips... I feel like an idiot now... Anyone know how often I should look for new scantations to hopefully prevent this from happening? (At least Czech is a girl and somewhat like I thought... though I'm kind of screwed with Slovakia in this... Oh well. This is an AU anyway. I'll just have to keep this in mind from now on.)**

 **In other news, Slovakia might become one of my favorite characters if he keeps acting like he does. And Czech's hair is pretty.**


	3. Tre - Å Møte Igjen

**You know, it's a great thing for those of you that are reading this story, but the inexplicable motivation I've been getting for this story isn't that good for me, since I really want to update my other two stories. Though at least _Ég Er Hér_ has more than the paragraph I've been stuck on for the past month...**

 **I also gave up on trying to find a good picture, so take this one of Lukas and** **Eiríkur for now and tell me if you guys have a more appropriate one.**

 **Anyway, I've figured out what to do about the whole Slovakia situation. I'm sorry about that. Again, I had no idea whatsoever that Hima had actually made the characters and am glad that I decided not to add Aneta into the scene with the Germanics last chapter at the last minute.**

 **Here's the next chapter.**

* * *

 **Tre - Å Møte Igjen  
Three - To Meet Again**

It took another two days after their conversation with their siblings for them to actually leave their hotel room and start looking again. Though Mikkel would admit (only in his own mind, though) that it was his fault for managing to sprain his leg while in the bathroom, forcing both of them to wait in their hotel room until he healed, and it had been almost eight at night by that point, so they just ordered room service and called it a day.

And, unfortunately for them, Lukas was apparently not working that day, so they were back to just wandering around Trondheim and hoping that they found one of the two siblings.

It actually wasn't that bad, though. Unlike their experiences in Oslo, Bergen, and Lillehammer, they actually knew that Lukas and Eiríkur were here and were actually able to just appreciate the city without distractions. (Well, Berwald was. Mikkel was just looking at the pretty Norwegian girls and questioning why some people decided some of those store names were good ideas.) And Mikkel had to admit that having an actual off day that didn't involve a motherly Swede (seriously, _Timo_ should be the one calling him his 'wife' if anything, he was so bad).

Anyway, their meandering eventually led them to a school where tons of students were getting out for their last day, judging by the happy conversations they could overhear. Deciding to wait for at least some of the crowed of students to disperse, the two Scandinavians walked closer to the school, figuring that most people would be getting as far away as possible. They were right; there was only one guy standing by the wall, talking on the phone. Neither of them thought much about it until they were close enough to hear his voice.

"Hvað."

Mikkel almost shouted in shock, but Berwald apparently saw that coming and slammed his hand over his mouth, though the Dane could tell that his younger brother was just as surprised to have heard that single Icelandic phrase that they had heard far too many times to count before all of this had happened.

"Hvorfor går du hit?" Eiríkur was asking whoever he was talking to- probably Lukas, judging by his tone. "Må bilen fikses? Er du sikker? Den var fin i går..."

Mikkel couldn't help but be shocked at how the Icelander's appearance. While he was obviously the same personification of Iceland they remembered with the same silvery hair, pale skin, and violet eyes, he looked older. Instead of looking about seventeen, he looked to be close to _nineteen_ now. He couldn't tell how tall he was, but he would bet that he was just as tall as his brother now.

Eiríkur's annoyed expression was very familiar, however. Nothing had changed about that.

The Icelander groaned in aggravation. "Hold kjeft," he groaned. As he rolled his eyes, most likely in relation to something Lukas said on the phone, his eyes fell on the two Scandinavians watching him. Mikkel thought he saw his eyes widen in shock for a split second, but he wasn't sure since the next second his face had returned to the annoyed expression from before.

"Já, já... Lukas? Mundu þessir tveir menn sem þú sást?" Eiríkur asked, switching to Icelandic. "Vegna þess að er hér."

Mikkel looked over at Berwald, trying to see if he caught any of that. He hadn't judging by the look on his face, causing the Dane to sigh. He really needed to learn Icelandic.

"Bíddu... Þú þarft ekki að- og þú hengt upp. Þakka þér Lukas..."

Eiríkur sighed in aggravation before slamming his phone into his pocket. After a moment, he turned to the two of them and asked, "Trenger dere noe?"

* * *

To be perfectly honest, Eiríkur hadn't completely believed Lukas when he had told him about the two men that had come in while he was working. It's not that he thought his older brother was lying; he just didn't see how two people could look so familiar when they had never met before. And that was coming from someone that had somehow gotten the _wonderful_ ability to see mythical creatures like his brother.

Well, he definitely believed him now.

The Nordic didn't let his gaze linger for long, but even the quick glance confirmed what his brother had confided in him- the two _did_ look familiar, and he _knew_ that he had never seen them before.

Lukas was saying something, having no idea what his younger brother had just seen. Eiríkur snapped out of his thoughts and said, switching to Icelandic so they wouldn't understand what he was saying, "Yes, yes... Lukas?"

"What is it?"

"Remember those two men that you saw."

"...Yes, I do. Why are you asking?" the Norwegian asked, sounding like he already knew the answer.

"Because they are here."

Silence. Then Lukas said, "I will be there in a couple of minutes. Call me if they attempt to do something."

"Wait... You don't have to-" Eiríkur started before getting cut off by the call ending. "And he hung up. Thank you Lukas..."

He sighed, annoyed at his older brother. _Really? You couldn't stay on the phone while you run all the way here? Not that I need help, of course. It would just be nice._

After stuffing his phone into his pocket, the Icelander turned to the newcomers, making sure to keep his expression blank. "Do you need something?" he asked in Norwegian, hoping that they would say no and walk off and never bother either him or his brother ever again.

Mr. Intimidating answered first, in Swedish-accented English. "Came over here. Didn't want to get trampled," he said, gesturing to the crowd of students still lingering outside, thanking whatever higher being they believed in that the pointlessness that is school was finally over.

"Well, what did you expect? It's the last day of school," Eiríkur said, rolling his eyes. He didn't miss how the two of them looked at each other in surprise when he had started speaking, but had no idea why and definitely couldn't ask why. "Why did you come here today?"

"We didn't know," Intimidating's brother said brightly. "You see, I'm from the awesome country of Denmark, home to the awesomeness that is Lego! And my bro here is from the less noteworthy country that is Sweden- ow!"

Eiríkur watched impassively as Intimidating slapped his brother, who he decided to label 'moron' in his mind, on the back of the head. _They're the same as ever... wait, where did_ that _thought come from?_ Mentally shaking his head to dispel the unsettling thought, he deadpanned, "Yes, be proud of the fact that people curse Legos whenever they step on one."

"I've never had a problem with that, so I don't know why people complain about it! Legos are awesome!"

The Icelander stared at Moron, unable to comprehend what he had just said. "How...?" he began, but stopped upon seeing Intimidating shake his head and mouth "Don't".

"Anyway," Moron said, recovering from the slap surprisingly quickly, "we've never been to Trondheim before- well, we have, but not for a _loooooooong_ time- so we had no idea this is when the high school got out. Hey, did you just graduate?"

"Yeah," Eiríkur said, surprised enough at the question to answer without thinking.

"That's great! You're finally old enough now to actually do that this ti-" Moron started before Intimidating slammed his hand against his mouth, though he snatched it back after a moment and wiped it on his pants with a look of utter disgust on his face.

Eiríkur frowned for a moment, confused at what he meant. _What did he mean, 'this time'? It doesn't make any sense..._ Thinking about it started to give him a massive headache for some reason, and he prayed for someone to come help him deal with these two before his head exploded.

Thankfully, it was at that moment that his older brother materialized behind them. "What is going on here?" Lukas asked, causing Moron to give a _very manly_ squeak and jump onto Intimidating, causing both of them to crash into the ground. The Norwegian just stared at them and muttered, "idioter," before walking over Eiríkur.

"They did not do anything, did they?" he asked quietly in Icelandic.

Eiríkur shook his head. "They've been acting like idiots, but other than that, no."

Lukas nodded, turning to stare at the two idiots on the ground. "Are you almost done?"

"Shut up, Lukas," Moron snapped, then froze.

Eiríkur saw Lukas' eyes narrow in suspicion, though he doubted that either of them could see that. "How do you know my name?" the Norwegian asked that calmly, as if he was just asking about something as trivial as the weather, but Eiríkur knew his brother. Lukas was just one miniscule step away from getting a troll to beat them up. He'd do it himself, but he didn't want to go to jail, and they were the only two of them they knew that could even see the trolls.

"Um... well-"

"Recognized you from the cafe a couple days ago," Intimidating said calmly. "After you left, the other worker complained about how you always left when customers came in during the day."

"I will have to talk to Øyvind about his comments, then," Lukas said, seemingly shrugging it off, though his younger brother knew that he had filed that away to think about later. "If you know my name, it is only fair for you two to tell is yours."

"This is Mikkel-"

"I wanted to introduce myself Berry!"

"And I am Berwald, _inte Berry,"_ the tall Swede said, hissing the last part in Swedish to his brother.

"Jeg heter Lukas, og lillebror min heter Eiríkur," Lukas said, introducing them in Norwegian, though they should understand what he's saying.

"I can introduce myself," the Icelander muttered, though his brother ignored him as usual.

"Nice to see you guys!" Mikkel said happily, though Eiríkur couldn't help but mentally add the word 'again' into that sentence.

Lukas seemed to notice that as well, because he said, "Likewise. Now, if you would excuse us-"

"Hey, since you guys live here, would you mind showing us around?" Mikkel suddenly asked. "It would be great to have someone from Trondheim to show us around!"

Eiríkur was about to deny his request, but before he could, Lukas said, "That sounds fine. I get off work at one thirty tomorrow. If you are not at the cafe within five minutes, I will leave."

"Thank you!" Mikkel said. Berwald also nodded his thanks.

"Ha det," Lukas said, turning and walking off. Eiríkur followed him after saying the same thing and receiving an enthusiastic farewell from Mikkel and a subdued one from Berwald.

"Lukas, why in the world did you agree to show them around?" he asked, uncomprehending.

His older brother stopped for a second and looked at him before saying, "I want answers about why they seem familiar, because I doubt that it can be explained by coincidence, especially after this encounter. They are the ones most likely to have them."

* * *

 **Translations:**

 **Hvað (Icelandic) - What**

 **Hvordan går du hit? (Norwegian) - Why are you walking here?**

 **Må bilen fikses? (Norwegian) - The car needs to be fixed?**

 **Er du sikker? (Norwegian) - Are you sure?**

 **Bilen var fin i går (Norwegian) - The car was fine yesterday**

 **Hold kjeft (Norwegian) - Shut up**

 **Já (Icelandic) - Yes**

 **Mundu þessir tveir menn sem þú sást? (Icelandic) - Remember those two men that you saw?**

 **Vegna þess að er her (Icelandic) - Because they are here**

 **Bíddu (Icelandic) - wait**

 **Þú þarft ekki að- og þú hengt upp. (Icelandic) - You don't have to- and he hung up.**

 **Þakka þér Lukas (Icelandic) - Thank you Lukas**

 **Idioter (Norwegian) - Idiots (A very helpful phrase)**

 **Inte (Swedish) - not**

 **Jeg heter Lukas, og lillebroren min heter Eiríkur (Norwegian) - My name is Lukas, and my little brother is named** **Eiríkur**

 **Ha det (Norwegian) - Bye**

 **Okay, that was more translations than I thought there would be... Once again, PLEASE tell me any mistakes.**

 **I enjoyed calling Mikkel "moron" and Berwald "intimidating" a bit too much...**

 **Mikkel also has a big mouth and doesn't know when to shut up. I'd say that it runs in the family, but only Gilbert is the same way. Everyone else has the ability to shut up and not say anything.**

 **Speaking of running in the family: Yes, I headcanon** **Eiríkur as being able to see magical creatures and use magic. Two reasons: The rest of the British Isles seem to be able to use magic, not just England, and apparently Iceland did a poll in the 90s that said half of the people polled still believe in elves, so there.**

 **Unfortunately for me, I am leaning more towards actually making this a series due to getting plot bunnies for at least two other stories set in this universe. You guys are probably very happy about that, though...**


	4. Fire - Møtet

**Fire - Møtet  
Four - The Meeting**

Lukas blinked in surprise when Eiríkur walked in the door about ten minutes before he got off work. "I thought you weren't going to come," he asked, causing the Icelander to shrug.

"You aren't the only one who wants answers," he said. "Just get me some coffee."

"If you call me big brother."

"Shut up! I'm not calling you that! I turn 19 next week! I'm too old for that!"

Lukas smirked, before turning and beginning to make the coffee. While he really did want Eiríkur to call him that again, he actually mostly just brought it up to mess with his little brother. He had a daily quota to fill, after all.

"You better not be giving your brother free coffee again!" He heard his coworker shout from inside the kitchen.

The Norwegian turned to the kitchen door and said coldly, "So I cannot give my family member that only occasionally comes in a free beverage, but you can offer any woman you find pretty enough a free pastry, Øyvind?"

He heard Øyvind mutter something, but decided not to answer as he set the cup of coffee in front of his brother. "You do realize that I can pay for things myself," Eiríkur said as he took a sip.

Lukas shrugged. "I have no problem with giving you a free drink once in awhile. You never come in, so it is not like I do this all of the time. Speaking of which... why do you never come in? Do you not want to see you dear big brother?"

"Not if you always act like this..." Eiríkur muttered into his cup. "I see you all of the time. I live with you. Plus you buy enough coffee to give to the army and still have leftovers. I have no reason to come in."

Lukas sighed. _That doesn't mean that it wouldn't be nice to see you while I am working sometimes. You are the only family I have left, after all._ He looked at the clock, seeing that his shift was over. "I will meet you outside. Set a timer for five minutes as soon as you step outside, please."

"Wait, you were serious?"

He stepped outside the cafe only a couple minutes later, and walked over to where his brother was standing. "Time?" he asked as a greeting.

Eiríkur jumped and almost dropped his phone, but he managed to catch it. "Would you quit sneaking up on me?!" he snapped.

"I do not sneak up on you. You just do not pay any attention. Now, did you set a timer?"

"You're mean," the Icelander sighed. "Yes, I set a timer because you would get mad at me if I didn't. You're really mean to people."

"I am not mean to you."

"No, just annoying."

"Just tell me how much longer they have."

Eiríkur rolled his eyes and started to open the timer app on his phone, but was distracted upon hearing some very loud Danish complaining. They both looked up to see Berwald actually carrying Mikkel over his shoulder, though his face was facing them instead of his brother's back. Considering how much he was squirming, there was probably a reason for that.

"Are you sure they're related?" Eiríkur asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Explain to me how else a Dane and a Swede would be on vacation together," Lukas answered.

"Explain to me why they would be siblings and think they're different nationalities."

"They grew up in Scania."

"...You might have a point there if that's the case. By the way, they have about five seconds left. Pretty impressive."

It was at this point that Berwald reached them and dumped Mikkel on the ground in front of him. "Berry you meanie!" he pouted. No, seriously, he pouted like a three year old that didn't get a second serving of desert.

Lukas stared at him. "Et barn..." he said in disbelief. "Du er et _barn_..."

"I'm not a kid! I'm twenty-two years old!" Mikkel said.

 _"_ _Så oppfør deg som et voksent menneske da."_

"Just give up," Berwald spoke up. "He and Gil will never grow up."

"Gil?" Eiríkur asked.

"Older brother. They're the two oldest."

"How many siblings do you have?"

"Six. Three older, three younger."

Lukas and Eiríkur stared at them.

 _Seven children? How did their parents survive? Especially considering that Mikkel is one of them, and they apparently have a sibling just as bad... I knew I would regret agreeing to show them around. Those answers had better be good._ Lukas sighed before saying out loud, "Let's just go." _And get this over with..._

* * *

Berwald, as much as he didn't want to admit it even to himself, had no clue how they were going to wake them up.

No, Mikkel's idea that they should just jump Lukas and wake him up would not work. Well, it would, but that wouldn't make him or Eiríkur happy at all. Besides, they were already going to have enough problems with them when that happens, considering how they'd remember most everything that had happened to them, and too many of their memories aren't very happy.

He spent the entire afternoon trying to figure out what to do (because there was no way he was letting Mikkel decide what to do), but didn't get any closer to a solution because he was a little disarmed at the differences about the two of them that he's noticed.

Like him and all of his siblings, both Lukas and Eiríkur were still the same people as before. They were both as expressionless/bored as ever, and both of them, especially the Norwegian, were still prone to insulting pretty much everyone without caring. (He didn't know whether or not he was relieved that they still did that, or disappointed that they still did that. He didn't know what would be worse)

However, Lukas seemed to be a bit more willing to speak and offer his opinion (besides insults, he said those even when you begged him not to) without being asked. He also seemed to be slightly more open with his brother in public, though he wasn't with either of them, most likely because he still remembered the fact that Mikkel had called him by name when he shouldn't have known it, and didn't buy his hurried explanation. To be honest, he didn't expect him to. He had been counting on the hope that he wouldn't press it.

Eiríkur's biggest difference was that he had a Norwegian accent, which, while kind of weird, probably wouldn't last long. All of them had had German accents before their father had woken them up, and only Ludwig and Gilbert did now. Other than that, there wasn't too much difference, though he could probably find some more if he tried. Wait, he actually seemed to be more mature than before. As in, he just didn't act like he was. That was probably because he was older, though.

He was snapped out of his thoughts upon hearing his brother ask, "So, what about dinner?"

"I am not paying for you," both Lukas and Eiríkur said at the exact same time.

"Du gøre aldrig..." Mikkel muttered, but quietly enough that Berwald was the only one that could hear him. He said, loud enough for the other two to hear, "I wasn't expecting you to! I'm just hungry. It's like... 5:47 according to my phone. I'm hungry."

"I was just planning to have kveldsmat later when I get home," Lukas admitted. "I am not very hungry, to be honest."

"I am," Eiríkur protested. "You had better buy me food."

Lukas just stared at him, an eyebrow raised.

"Buy me food, storebror."

The Norwegian nodded and walked off, gesturing for them to follow him. Berwald followed silently (like he'd been doing all day), but Mikkel complained, "We don't get a say in where we're going?"

"Nei. Hold kjeft."

* * *

They ended up at a pizza place.

"Pizza?" Berwald finally asked as they waited for their food.

"I wanted pizza," Lukas explained.

"I thought you guys ate frozen pizza," Mikkel said, confused.

Lukas scowled. "Just because you Danish and Swedish apparently think we eat frozen pizza all the time does _not_ mean we do. In fact, I do not like them all that much."

"Ja. Det er derfor vi har tjue av dem i fryseren," Eiríkur muttered under his breath.

Lukas smacked him on the head. "Quiet. They do not need to know that."

"That's child abuse. I could call the authorities on you."

"That would mean that you would have to pay for your own things and get a job."

"I had a job."

"You quit."

"They weren't paying me enough."

"Still."

Mikkel spoke up at this point. "You guys are funny! You're like Gil and Lud when they're arguing!"

"Why aren't you with your siblings?" Eiríkur asked.

"I need some sanity left," Berwald muttered.

"They went on a vacation to Italy instead!" Mikkel said, beaming.

"Italy?"

"Lud needs a friend," Mikkel said, nodding.

 _...He is going all the way to Italy to get a friend?_ Lukas asked himself as their pizza came. _I would find that another thing about them to be suspicious about, but that just sounds like he is making fun of his brother. I feel so sorry for this 'Lud'._

After a minute of Lukas, Eiríkur, and Berwald enjoying their slices and a minute of Mikkel practically inhaling his share, the Dane asked, "So, you guys live alone? Just you two?"

"Our mother died two years ago," Lukas said.

"Oh... I'm sorry..."

"There is nothing to be sorry for," he said, shrugging. "It was two years ago."

"How are you so fine with that? Our Vater died in December."

"Can we quit talking about this?" Eiríkur asked quietly, making the Norwegian feel guilty bringing it up. His younger brother had taken her death far worse than he had for some reason. It's not as if he didn't mourn, but he just for some reason wasn't as devastated as he was.

"Why did you call your father Vater?" Lukas asked, changing the subject. "It is German, riktig?"

"He was German," Berwald replied, setting down his slice. "You know German?"

"I am not fluent." That was true- he wasn't quite to that point. He was very close, however, a fact that they did not need to know. "I have not studied it as much as I should, to be honest."

He saw both of them nod- Mikkel did it with a slice of pizza in his mouth, disgusting- and internally smirked. They seemed to have bought the fact that he wouldn't actually understand them if they spoke in German. That was good. Hopefully they would let something slip.

They sat in silence for a couple minutes before their bill came. Surprisingly, there were no disagreements about who paid for what. After they had left the restaurant, Lukas turned to them and said, "Jeg angrer ikke så mye på dette som jeg trodde jeg ville gjøre. Farvel."

He heard Eiríkur say "Ha det" and Mikkel shout a farewell before his younger brother caught up with him.

"I didn't get any answers," the Icelander pointed out.

"We did make plans to meet again, however," Lukas pointed out. "That is some progress."

"I guess..."

* * *

 **Translations:**

 **Du er et barn (Norwegian) - You are a child**

 **Så oppfør deg som et voksent menneske da. (Norwegian) - Then behave like a grown man.**

 **Du gøre aldrig (Danish) - You never did**

 **Kveldsmat (Norwegian) - Evening food. Kind of like a fourth meal Norwegians eat after dinner, though it's not really big. (I'm not explaining this well... sorry)**

 **Storebror (Norwegian) - Big brother**

 **Nei (Norwegian- pronounced like "nigh"- and Icelandic- pronounced like "nay") - No**

 **Ja (Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, German, Dutch) - yes**

 **Det er derfor vi har tjue av dem i fryseren (Norwegian) - That's why we have twenty of them in the freezer**

 **Riktig (Norwegian) - right or correct**

 **Jeg angrer ikke så mye på dette som jeg trodde jeg ville gjøre (Norwegian) - I did not regret this as much as I thought I would**

 **Farvel (Norwegian) - Goodbye or farewell or something along that line**

 **Ha det (Norwegian) - Bye**

 **(I would like to thank MiaDS for helping with the translations here. Some of them would probably be wrong otherwise.)**

 **The best way for Eiríkur to get Lukas to do something for him is to call him big brother. That's pretty much canon.**

 **If you're wondering, Scania is the southernmost part of Sweden and is apparently practically Danish.**

 **I know, I didn't actually say what they did during the afternoon. That would be because I've never been to Trondheim before. I could look things up, but I would inevitably get something wrong and I don't really want that. I'm sorry.**

 **I had more things I wanted to say, but I can't remember them and I want to go to bed. Sorry.**


	5. Fem - Tilbyr Et Valg

**Fem - Tilbyr Et Valg  
Five - Offering A Choice  
**

Berwald sat and stared at the notebook he had written ideas on what to do about waking Lukas and Eiríkur up.

A week after meeting them again, and he still had no idea what to do.

Mikkel was still of the opinion that they should just jump Lukas and wake him up and hope that he wouldn't get that mad at them, but that didn't sit right with the Swede. He'd rather give them a choice in the matter.

Berwald jolted up upon getting that thought.

Before their father had woken Gilbert and Ludwig up last year, he had gotten all seven of them together and gave them the choice of either staying ignorant as to who they really were or of waking them up. All of them had agreed, even without knowing what it was. Though the five that hadn't been woken up first had learned very quickly what they were, since it would've been extremely hard to hide it after their German brothers had been awakened.

So, why shouldn't he offer them the same choice?

Berwald looked over at his brother. He was still asleep, thankfully. For one, Mikkel staying up and playing video games all night had been a good thing. This conversation with Lukas would be hard enough without the Dane there.

After taking a moment to write a quick note so his phone didn't get blown up with texts from a worried brother, he grabbed his phone and wallet before heading out the door.

* * *

Lukas looked up from his book upon hearing the door to the cafe open. He blinked his surprise upon seeing that Berwald was the one who walked in. The Swede came up to the counter, nodded at him, and said, "Hej."

"Hei," Lukas said in return. "Where is your idiot brother?"

Berwald made a sound that sounded a lot like a snicker. "Stayed up all night."

"Dansk idiot," the Norwegian muttered. "Did you come in here for something? Or did you just want to annoy me? Wait. You are not the really annoying one. So it is the first reason."

"Ja. Snälla gi mig kaffe- Vær så snill."

"What kind?" Lukas asked, reluctantly getting up from the stoll he was sitting on.

"Sugar. Lots of."

He looked at the Swede, a look of disgust on his face. Of course, he did think that any other kind of coffee than straight black was blasphemy and should be punished, so maybe he shouldn't say anything. Either way, he shook his head and made it, placing the coffee in front of him.

Instead of leaving like he had expected, Berwald nodded in thanks and sat down at one of the small tables while sipping his coffee. Lukas stared at him for a moment, before turning back to his book.

Silence reigned for a few minutes before Berwald suddenly said, "I know you're both suspicious of us."

Lukas' head shot up as he stared at him in shock before his eyes narrowed. "How could you possibly know that? I know for a fact that I have not made it in any way obvious, and neither has Eiríkur."

Berwald grimaced, setting down his cup. "Complicated."

"How complicated?"

"No way you'd believe me. Sounds unbelievable if I just say it."

Lukas stared at him. "I could tell you some things you would not believe." _Like that movie about having a troll problem is actually true. And I'm not insane._ _Eiríkur can confirm it._

The Swede sighed. "You can. I know. Just believe me."

Lukas stared at him some more. "Try me."

"Can't. Specially not here."

"Why not here? Neither of you seem like murderers."

Berwald actually flinched at that. "Done things I'm not proud of. But never murder if can be avoided. You felt the same way." Immediately after he said that, his head shot up and he slammed his hand over his mouth.

Surprisingly, Lukas wasn't all that shocked upon hearing the Swede's slip. After all, it only confirmed what he had already suspected- that they somehow knew each other. Deciding to take a risk, he said, "Berwald. Se på meg."

Reluctantly, he looked up, and Lukas looked right into his eyes. "I know that you seem familiar. I cannot figure out why that is, because I _know_ that I have never seen either of you before, and neither has Eiríkur. He would have told me if he had met someone like Mikkel.

"So, would you mind telling me why this is?"

Berwald didn't answer for awhile, looking down at his cup. Finally he said, "Like I said, it's complicated. Don't interrupt. It's just... we did know each other. Not now, but before."

When he paused, Lukas asked, raising an eyebrow, "Are you saying we were reincarnated?"

Surprisingly, he shook his head. "No. Can't explain, but you'd know yourself if you woke up."

"Våkner..." Lukas said, almost in a trance. It was almost as if that phrase... it seemed like it...

"Lukas!"

The Norwegian snapped out of the trance, seeing Berwald standing in front of him, a concerned look on his face. He idly wondered how he had gotten that close, but then had that thought erased upon the arrival of a massive headache. He groaned, rubbing his forehead

"Beklager," Berwald muttered. Hearing that Norwegian phrase somehow managed to ease Lukas' headache enough to let him focus on the Swede.

"Hva var det?" He asked, more to himself than to the Swede.

Berwald looked guilty. "I didn't mean for..." He trailed off, than said, "Look, I'm going to give you- both of you- a choice. Either we can... you know... do the opposite of put you to sleep, or we can leave both you and Eiríkur alone."

Lukas looked at him suspiciously. "Why are you giving both me and my brother a choice?"

"Because I can't promise both of you will be safe," He said quietly. "Even if our fears are wrong, you'll still be alone. You'll have each other, and I hope that'll stay for the next however long we are here, if you do things right. And both of you deserve to have a choice in the matter."

He placed a scrap of paper on the counter in front of him. "My phone number. We'll be here the next three weeks, then we move on. Won't bother either of you, and I'll keep Mikkel away too. Not unless you call."

On that note, Berwald got up and left the cafe, leaving Lukas with far more questions than he had gained answers.

* * *

Berwald reluctantly walked back into his hotel room an hour after that conversation. He had taken the long way back to his hotel, trying to figure out how to explain to his brother what he had chosen to do.

Unfortunately for him, Mikkel was talking to their siblings and noticed him as soon as he walked in. "See!" the Dane yelled, pointing at him even though none of the people on the screen could see him. "Berry is here! I didn't ditch him somewhere!"

The first sign that their siblings had of the truth of his words was Berwald's hand slapping Mikkel on the back of the head. "What have I said about calling me that?" he hissed.

"Not to..."

Berwald sighed and sat down in the other chair before looking at the screen. Like last time, not all of his siblings were there yet. Ludwig and Gilbert were there, and so was Aneta, surprisingly. He had thought she'd still be finding excuses not to talk to them, considering how she had always been sort of... detached? from the rest of their family. There was no sign of Vash or Roderich, however. "Where's Vash and Roderich?" he asked.

Ludwig shrugged. "I do not know where Vash is. He may just be late," he said, scowling. He valued punctuality above most things, after all.

"There wasn't a set time you told us," Aneta spoke up, rolling her eyes.

"Aneta," Berwald said, nodding at the Czech woman.

"Bratr," she said, inclining her head at him.

"Anyway," Ludwig spoke up, "Roderich told me that he wasn't going to be able to connect to the internet for the near future and not to expect him. Since Vash could be awhile, let us get started. Aneta, have you found Poland or a personification of Slovakia?"

"Seen Feliks? No. But I did find him on Facebook."

Her four siblings that were present stared at her, causing her to frown. "What?" she asked.

"Facebook," Gilbert said as if in a trance.

"Why the heck didn't I think of that?" Mikkel asked. Berwald and Ludwig nodded in agreement.

Aneta facepalmed. "Idioti."

After they had gotten over how stupid they had been, Ludwig shook his head and said, "Well... just keep us posted. Now, I will give mine and Gilbert's summary of events-"

"Lighten up West!" Gilbert cut in.

"-and I am unfortunately unable to provide any new information as to the whereabouts of the Italies."

Gilbert started laughing. "Actually West, I just found Feli's Facebook page," he said, waving his phone in front of Ludwig's face.

"What! Are you sure?" he asked, trying to look at his brother's phone.

"Yeah! Who else would spam pictures of pasta?"

"Give me that," Ludwig said, snatching the Prussian's phone. "Yes, this is Feli's Facebo- what?"

"What's going on?" Mikkel asked.

Ludwig blinked, then looked up. "It says here that he has two siblings- Lovino and Marcello."

It took them a moment to recognize the second name. _"Seborga?"_ Mikkel asked in disbelief.

"Isn't that a micronation or something?" Aneta asked.

Ludwig nodded. "It is. I don't understand how-"

He was cut off by Vash connecting to their stream. "I think I may have found something," he announced grimly.

"Judging by your face, it isn't good," Aneta ventured.

"It's not. Remember that group I told you about last time that the US forcibly disbanded, the one that was looking into 'super humans'?"

"Yes..."

"It was multinational."

All of them stayed silent at the implications. Finally, Ludwig asked, in a shaking voice, "Are they still running?"

"Not anywhere in the West as far as I can tell," Vash said, "and I don't think that Russia or most countries in Asia look favorably upon that group. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any data on it past 2013, so I don't know about anywhere else."

Various German, Danish, Swedish, and Czech curse words were muttered. Finally, Ludwig, taking charge, said, "We're not going to be able to confirm anything now. Vash, did you find Lili?"

"Yes, I did," the Swiss man said. "She turns 18 next month, so if I decide to drag her into this, it'll be after that."

"At least you found out she's fine," Ludwig said. "Mikkel? Berwald? What about you two?"

Berwald sighed. Honestly, he had been half hoping that they would just forget to ask him about that, but no luck. He heard Mikkel say, "Well, we did talk to both of them and even somehow got them to show us around, but I don't know how to wake them up. You have any ideas, bror?"

The Swede sighed again, mentally preparing himself for the complaints he was going to get from Mikkel. "I talked to Lukas and told him that we wouldn't bother him unless he and Eiríkur decided that they want to wake up and told me."

"What?!" Mikkel yelled. "Why didn't you tell me this?! Do you not trust me?"

"I do!" Berwald quickly said. "You were asleep. I didn't want to wake you and I didn't know when his shift was done."

"Yeah right. Look, I'm going to go get a snack. See you later."

Berwald watched as his brother left the room before swearing under his breath. "I'm an idiot," he muttered to himself.

"Hey, Mikkel will get over it," Gilbert said, trying to comfort him. "He'll probably go somewhere and stew, but he'll come back in an hour or so. You can use that time to figure out how to explain what you meant."

The Swede stared at his older brother. "Surprisingly wise for you."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

Berwald smirked a bit. "What do you think it means?"

Gilbert glared at him, causing Ludwig to sigh yet again and ask, "Any indication on what he'll choose to do?"

"Sounded like he wanted answers. Said that the both of us were familiar when we hadn't met before. But he won't do anything if Eiríkur doesn't want to." He paused, remembering something. "Though... something weird happened. I said 'woke up' in _English,_ and he almost woke up."

"Are you sure?" Aneta asked, shocked.

"Positive. Acted the same way you did 'fore you woke up. I got him out of it, but still."

They all frowned. "Do you think it has something to do with the fact that he can use magic?" Vash asked.

"Possibly," Ludwig said.

"Best explanation we have for now," Aneta muttered. Gilbert nodded in agreement.

Berwald shrugged. "I'll tell you what happens. I'm going to wait for Mikkel. Hej då." He shut off the computer after hearing his siblings' farewells.

* * *

 **Translations:**

 **Hej (Swedish and Danish) - Hi**

 **Hei (Norwegian) - Hi**

 **Dansk idiot (Norwegian) - Danish idiot**

 **Snälla gi mig kaffe (Swedish) - Please give me a coffee**

 **Vær så snill (Norwegian) - Please**

 **Se på meg (Norsk) - Look at me**

 **Våkner (Norwegian) - Wake up**

 **Beklager (Norwegian) - Sorry**

 **Hva var det? (Norwegian) - What was that?**

 **Bratr (Czech) - Brother**

 **Idioti (Czech) - Idiots**

 **Bror (Danish, Norwegian, _possibly_ Swedish) - Brother**

 **Hej då (Swedish) - Bye (Don't quote me on this one)**

 **Lukas and Eiríkur are closer to answers than you know.**

 **Yes, they spent all that time searching and the internet didn't even occur to them. No wonder Mikkel and Berwald found them first.**

 **Aneta makes her appearance finally.**

 **Is the group actually dead? And is that actually the reason they were reborn? I'll let you guys guess.**

 **Yes, Seborga is still around. I wasn't going to add that in and let whether any micronations are actually around up to you, but I decided to imagine your reactions instead.**

 **So, this story is moving faster than I thought it would. I thought that it'd take a little longer to get to that point. There's still going to be four to five chapters after this, though.**

 **Anyway, please let me know what you think.**


	6. Seks - Forklaringer

**Norwegian guest: I have been bugging a Norwegian I know for translations, and I'm trying to learn the language. I'm not fluent yet, but I hope to one day be. I don't know any Nynorsk or dialect, so I'm focusing on Bokmål. And thank you for reminding me that I hadn't ever fixed the translations I got wrong in Chapter One and Three. I must have never reuploaded the chapters, but I have done that now. Would you would be kind enough to point out some of the sentences that I or my friend have not gotten right? It would be very appreciated.**

 **Anony: I've thought about doing that, but I personally don't usually like it, and I partly do it because the person that's doing the point of view doesn't usually speak that language and may or may not understand any of it. I'm sorry. I'll see about Finland though.**

* * *

 **Seks - Forklaringer  
Six - Explanations**

Eiríkur looked up from his book when the front door opened to see his brother walk in. "You know, you're usually out of that cafe fast enough that I wonder why you're still working there," he commented, which is Eiríkur-speak for "Where have you been I was worried about you?"

Lukas just sighed and said, "Let's just say we have a big decision to make."

"What? Did Alasdair proclaim his love to you and ask you to move to Scotland to be with him?"

That got the Icelander a filthy look. "No, that was not in any way what I was referring to," Lukas said with more than a little venom in his voice before groaning and rubbing his forehead.

Eiríkur frowned. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

His older brother grimaced. "I have a headache. That is what happened."

"Not buying it."

"It is just..." Lukas sighed, shaking his head before sitting down on the couch next to his brother. "Berwald came in a couple of hours ago."

That got Eiríkur's attention. He shut his book and threw it onto the coffee table, giving Lukas his undivided attention. "Did you find out anything?"

"Sort of. I gained more questions than answers."

"Explain what you mean, please."

Lukas sighed, glancing at him quickly before looking down at his hands. "I did get confirmation that we knew each other before. He told me that we were not reincarnated, and I am inclined to believe him. But that does not change the fact that we have definitely grown up the way we have."

"We could've just had false memories implanted."

"You need to stop watching television."

"Why do you keep saying television instead of TV?"

"Because I do," Lukas said, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, we did not get false memories implanted. If we did, I doubt very much that they would make us see trolls."

Eiríkur had to admit that he had a point. The trolls did make that idea seem very unlikely. "Anyway... you were saying?"

"I will admit part of the reason that I do not believe we were reincarnated is because I do not believe in that," the Norwegian said. "Though it is mostly because my instinct tells me that that is not the reason."

He had to admit that his brother's explanation made sense. His own instincts screamed that reincarnation wasn't the answer, and though he didn't know exactly why that was, he was willing to trust them. "What did he say after that?"

"He said, and I quote: 'I can't promise both of you will be safe. Even if our fears are wrong, you'll still be alone.' He then said that we would have each other, however."

"What are they scared of?" Eiríkur asked, unable to keep a trickle of fear from entering his voice.

Lukas seemed to have noticed, because he put a hand on his shoulder. "He said that he and Mikkel would leave us alone if we did not want to 'wake up' as he referred to it," the Norwegian said softly. "He gave me his number, however," he continued, taking a piece of paper out of his pocket. "He told me to call him if we decided we want to know everything."

"And?" The Icelander asked in a small voice.

Lukas closed his eyes. "I do not know what I wish to do. I want answers, and a part of me seems to be screaming to be released. But at the same time... I am scared."

Eiríkur stared at him in more than a little panic. His brother _never_ admitted that he was scared of _anything._ Even during that one time when they had gotten lost in the woods for two days before they came across another couple hiking in the woods, Lukas hadn't shown any panic.

Lukas seemed to realize this however, because he quickly turned and said, "I did not mean it like that. I am just... I am just scared that one day we would be separated. You... you are the only one I have left..."

He looked away, taking a deep breath before looking back at him and saying, "Eiríkur. You... I will go along with whatever you choose. Whatever you decide you want to do- talk to them and 'wake up', or stay ignorant- I will go along with."

 _Of course. Of course Lukas would leave possibly the biggest decision of our lives to me. Thank you so very much Lukas..._

Eiríkur turned away, biting his lip. Lukas was right. There was a part of him that really wanted him to agree to this, for him to... how did he refer to it? Wake up? But at the same time, he was _terrified_ that they'd make a horrible choice and regret it later.

He closed his eyes, wishing that his brother would not always let him choose what to do. It always seemed that Lukas would ask him before doing anything.

It wasn't as if he didn't want to know. He did. It's just... Lukas was the only family he had left. Their mother had died two years ago, and she never said a word to either of them about who their father was. As annoying as his brother could be, he would _never_ want him to be gone. He could've chosen to move out, but he didn't want to be separated. If they had tried to when their mother died, he didn't know what he'd have done.

But... would they be separated? Berwald didn't seem to think so. And... his gut told him that he was right, for some reason.

Eiríkur sighed, before opening his eyes and looking at his brother. "I... bara hringja í hann."

Lukas gave him a small smile and gave him a quick side hug before letting go and clutching his head. "I forgot about my headache," he explained. Shaking his head, he stood up and said, "I am going to lie down. You can call them if you wish."

Eiríkur watched him get up, before pulling his phone out of his pocket and say, "I'll call and tell them that they can explain what they meant by 'wake up' in a-"

He was cut off by hearing a thud in the hallway, making him frown and yell, "Lukas? Brother?" When he didn't hear anything else, he cautiously got up and peered into the hallway.

Lukas was collapsed on the floor, looking like he wasn't breathing.

"Stóri bróðir!"

Eiríkur ran to his brother, shaking him without getting any reaction. Thankfully, he had a faint pulse, but that still wasn't good.

The Icelander grabbed his phone, planning to call the hospital, when he saw the scrap of paper Lukas had left on the coffee table. He hesitated, glancing between his phone and the paper, before making a decision and snatching the number off the table and dialing it before he could change his mind.

 _They had better have a good explanation for this, or I'll be going to jail for murder and I won't regret it._

* * *

Mikkel finally came back in an hour after he left.

Surprisingly, Berwald saw him right away and set down his IKEA catalog and looked at him. "I'm sorry," he said, in _Danish. Danish!_

Mikkel stared at him. "What?" he asked.

"For not telling you what I was going to do."

The Dane shook his head. "You didn't do anything wrong. I just took it that way," he said.

Berwald shook his head. "Still shouldn't have dont that. Don't want it to..."

 _To turn out like it did centuries ago._

He didn't voice that thought, but Mikkel heard him loud and clear.

The enthusiastic Scandinavian grabbed his brother into a bear hug. "I'm not gonna do that to you guys again," he said softly. "Even if crap happens and our countries decide to go to war again, I'm not going to do that to you."

It took his younger brother a moment, but he awkwardly returned the hug. "Not going to do it either," he whispered.

Unfortunately, Berwald's phone rang, ruining their brotherly moment. "Come on!" Mikkel whined, letting go of his brother and plopping onto his bed.

Berwald scowled, annoyed, before grabbing his phone and looking at the number, an eyebrow raising. "From this area."

Mikkel shot up, rushing over to look at the screen. "Put it on speaker," he demanded after seeing it for himself.

The Swede complied, before actually answering it. "Hello-"

"You had better have an explanation for why _bróðir mínn_ has just collapsed onto the floor," a certain Icelander they knew hissed.

* * *

They made it to the other two Nordics' house in half of the time the directions they looked up said.

Even though it had been a long time and he probably wasn't even aware that he could, they were still scared that Eiríkur would get mad and try to blow something up if they didn't get there fast enough.

They didn't even have to knock. Eiríkur opened the door as soon as they got close, ushering them into the house and glaring at them while they took off their shoes and sat down on the couch.

After a moment, Mikkel asked, "Um... so, where's Lukas?"

"In his room, still passed out," Eiríkur snapped. _"Útskýra. Núna."_

Neither of them had to know any Icelandic to know what he wanted them to do.

Mikkel squirmed, looking at his brother and pleading for him to take the lead because he didn't know what to do. Thankfully, Berwald gave a small sigh and asked, "What were you talking about before he collapsed?"

The Icelander gave him a confused look, but said, "We were talking about what we wanted to do about what you said. After deciding that we wanted to know, Lukas went to go lie down because his headache was killing him, and I started to say that I was going to ask you to explain what you meant when you said wake up when he collapsed in the hallway."

The two looked at each other in shock. "Didn't expect that to happen," Berwald muttered. "Sorry."

"What did you expect to happen?" They just shrugged, causing Eiríkur to groan and snap, "Just explain what you meant by that and I won't be charged with the murder of two people."

They flinched. Unfortunately, neither of them believed that he was kidding. Why did he have to originally been born during the Viking Age? Seriously, why?

"Umm... Eiríkur," Mikkel started, "do you like Iceland a lot?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" he asked, but then sighed and admitted, "but yes. I do. Seems like more of a home to me than here in Norway for some reason."

"Well, there's a reason for that..." Mikkel said, trailing of at the end, not knowing how to put it. "It's because... because..."

Thankfully, Berwald had apparently figured that the blunt approach was the best way to say it. "You are Lýðveldið Ísland. The personification of the country."

* * *

 **Translations (All Icelandic):**

 **Bara hringja í hann - Just call him**

 **Stóri bróðir - Big brother**

 **Bróðir mínn - My brother**

 **Útskýra. Núna. - Explain. Now.**

 **Lýðveldið Ísland - The Republic of Iceland**

 **I would've made Berwald actually say "I'm sorry" in Danish, but when I looked at it on a translator, I got something that sounded a lot like the Norwegian phrase "Unnskyld", which means excuse me, so I decided not to.**

 **I know, I left you on a cliffhanger. Yes, I'm evil. I know.**

 **Lukas had a headache. He gets more snappy and rude when that happens.**

 **Am I the only one that doesn't think Eiríkur is a complete pushover? I mean, I can see him begging Lukas to teach him how to fight and him caving and teaching him a few things.**

 **So, next chapter will kind of be a continuation of this. It will hopefully be up soon.**

 **Finally, I have decided that I am definitely making this a series. This is going to be part one and is pretty much the set up. All I'm going to say is that I made a very small reference as to what will probably be next and that Lukas and Eiríkur will be around for quite awhile.**


	7. Sju - Våkne

**Sju - Våkne  
Seven - Wake Up**

"You are Lýðveldið Ísland. The personification of the country."

Eiríkur really wished he could just laugh at them and kick them out.

It sounded ridiculous. People couldn't be personifications of countries. Besides, he was born in Lillehammer, _Norway._ Just like his brother. If he was Iceland, wouldn't he have been born there? Plus Fjallkonan- the Lady of the Mountains- was the _female_ embodiment of Iceland. He was a guy, and is perfectly willing to prove that fact.

On the other hand... it _wasn't._

He couldn't explain it, but something about it _made sense._ It shouldn't have, but it did.

Eiríkur sat down hard on the floor, not even sparing a thought to his guests. He was too wrapped up in trying to make sense of what he had just learned to pay attention to the worried looks they were giving each other.

Pushing most of his thoughts to the back of the mind, he focused on the initial feeling he got upon hearing him say Lýðveldið Ísland. It was if hearing that name... it was like someone was calling him by his true name. (Wow, he needs to stop reading stuff and watching TV...) He didn't feel like collapsing like Lukas had (it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure what that made him if he was actually Iceland), but it still somehow... spoke to him? He didn't know how to explain it, even to himself, but it was true.

So, if he trusts that feeling- and he really wants to- that meant that they were telling the truth.

He barely kept himself from screaming every profanity he had ever learned.

"So," he finally spoke up, getting vaguely amused at the terrified look on Mikkel's face. "Let me see if I understand you: I am the personification of Iceland," he deadpanned.

"Yes..."

"So that means that Lukas is the personification of Norway."

"Yeah..."

"And you two are Denmark and Sweden."

"Right..."

Eiríkur flipped them off and went into the kitchen, pouring himself a cup of coffee and downing the entire thing. He stared at the alcohol cupboard, wondering if he should drink some aquavit so that he could deal with everything, but sadly realized that that wouldn't help, especially since there was only a bottle of it.

Pouring himself another cup of coffee, he stood in the door to the living room, watching the two idiots freaking out (okay, Mikkel was the one freaking out, Berwald was just acting normal) in German. From the bits he was able to catch, they were worried that he'd... blow them up. What.

Shaking his head, he went back into the living room and sat down in the armchair, clearing his throat loudly so that they would notice him. "So, anything else I need to know before Lukas wakes up? Or should I just get him to explain?"

They just blinked in unison. "Taking this well," Berwald muttered.

Eiríkur shrugged. "Actually, I'm just pretty sure that Lukas is going to murder you two later for not explaining any of this before hand, so that's taken care of."

He snickered when they both paled and started shaking. "Anyway, anything?"

"Please just ask Lukas later... maybe that would give us a chance to escape..." Mikkel said in a small voice as Berwald nodded.

The Icelander just rolled his eyes. "Just explain to me one thing: why have you said the words 'wake up' and nothing has ever happened to me?"

"Have to be in your country," Berwald clarified. "Vater took us to all six of our countries last summer and did it."

Eiríkur nodded in understanding, but frowned upon realizing, "Wait, you have five siblings. Don't you mean seven countries?"

"Well," Mikkel said, smiling, "You see, Gilbert was Prussia but he's now technically East Germany, so that took care of both him and Ludwig, who's West Germany!"

"...There hasn't been an East or West Germany for almost 25 years."

"Long story," Berwald muttered, cutting his brother off.

"Okay... I'm going to check on Lukas..." Eiríkur said, making his escape.

He walked into his brother's room, seeing that he was still passed out an hour later. Of course, he might be reliving over a millennia of memories, so who knows.

After a moment of staring from the doorway, he heard Lukas start to groan, and he cautiously approached the bed. "Lukas? Stóri Bróðir? Storebror?"

Lukas' eyes flew open as he shot up and took several ragged breaths.

"Bror...?"

The Norwegian looked at him, a terrified look on his face before he seemed to recognize him and relaxed. "Lillebror... Du skremte meg..." He sighed, running a hand over his face before muttering, "Jeg beklager..."

"You're sorry for what?" Eiríkur asked.

"For..." Lukas sighed, looking away. "I do not have any idea how to explain it."

"Don't worry, they already did."

"That is good... Excuse me for a moment."

Eiríkur watched as his brother grabbed a broom and left the room. Ten seconds later, he heard cries of pain come from the living room and walked in to see Berwald and Mikkel passed out on the floor. He walked into the kitchen to see Lukas rummaging in their alcohol cabinet before taking out that bottle of aquavit and just drinking it straight from the bottle. "I wanted some of that..." he muttered.

"Just believe me when I say that I need it more," Lukas muttered. "Besides, you are not quite 19 yet. You have to be 21 to purchase aquavit."

"Last month was not even close to the first time you drank it. Plus I think that's only for actually buying it."

"Whatever, little brother," he muttered, finishing off the bottle and looking back into the cabinet. "That is the only bottle we have, isn't it."

"Sadly, because I need some too."

"Helvete."

The Norwegian sighed and took out a bottle of regular beer, poured himself a cup and gulped it down. Eiríkur watched him, frowning. "Are you just going to get drunk?"

"Think about my history, and come to your own conclusions."

Eiríkur blinked in shock. _Well... bluntness aside, he unfortunately has a point... A lot of Norwegian history just plain sucks..._ "Um... Lukas?" When he still didn't answer, instead pouring himself yet another glass, he sighed and said, "Stóri bróðir?"

Lukas almost chocked on his drink, slamming the glass on the counter. "Little brother...?"

The Icelander blinked in surprise. "I meant to say that in Norwegian... Why did it come out in Icelandic?" he muttered.

His brother looked at him, assessing. "It may be because of everything that has happened," he mused. "You have not exactly woken up yet, though you know everything about who you are. I wish... I wish that you did not have to..."

Before Lukas could pick up his glass and take another sip, Eiríkur darted forward and snatched it of the counter, chugging it down before the Norwegian could react. In response to the death glare he was getting, he said, "Look, drinking won't help anything. It's not going to change anything, so just accept it and move on and quit whining about it."

The Norwegian just stared at him in slight shock. After a minute, he shook his head and gave a small smile. "You have always been the one to snap me out of things... both this time and before."

Eiríkur opened his mouth to say something about how there's no possible way that could be true, but before he could actually make a sound, Lukas cut him off and asked, "Do you want to actually go to Iceland and wake up? Or do you want to stay here?"

"What kind of stupid question is that?" he asked, staring at him in disbelief. "Do you not know me at all?"

Was it his imagination, or did his brother's eyes look sort of watery before he pulled him into a hug?

(Un)fortunately, the hug didn't last long, because only a moment later, they heard loud groaning coming from the living room. Lukas pulled back, muttering a curse and attempting to massage his forehead. "Great. Now I have to deal with those two idiots. _Again."_

* * *

Mikkel groaned as he regained consciousness. _What happened...?_ The memory of hearing Berwald go down and whirling around to see a broom heading straight towards his face before everything went black came to mind. _Oh... Lukas probably woke up and smacked us..._ _Eiríkur would have done it before then..._ the Dane blearily looked up, seeing the Norwegian glaring down at him. _Huh... I was right... Wait a second... I was_ right _..._

Mikkel shot up despite the lingering pain in his head and begged, "Don't kill me, please don't kill me..."

Lukas glared at him and the also awake Berwald. "If something stupid like this _ever_ happens again," he hissed, "I promise that getting hit with a broom will be the least of your worries."

Both of them began shouting apologies in various languages, only stopping when the Norwegian snapped, "Hold kjeft!" He rubbed his head and asked, "Look, have any of your siblings found anyone else? Or is it just you two, having found the two of us?"

They blinked in surprise, not having expecting this subject. "Well," Mikkel began, "No, you're the only ones we've actually woken up, if that's what you're asking. But Vash did find Lili, though he's waiting until next month to wake her up if he decides to, Lud and Gil found all three Italies on Facebook-"

"There are only two personifications of Italy: Veneziano, the North, and Romano, the South."

"Yeah, well apparently Seborga is still around."

"...Hva."

"Our reaction too," Berwald muttered.

"Anyways," Mikkel said brightly, "Aneta also found Feliks on Facebook! Though she's been in Slovakia for some reason since we started looking in February, so she has an excuse!"

Lukas seemed to contemplate that information for a moment before he asked, "So, we are the only two that all seven of you have found, even though you have been looking for the last four months."

"Yeah..."

"How long ago did searching the internet for any of us occur to your small brains?"

Neither of them were willing to look at him, though that only confirmed his suspicions, causing him to hum.

"That is what I had thought," the Norwegian said in satisfaction. "I am will take Eiríkur to Iceland in the next week, and after waking him up, I will see if I can find one of the British... Isles..." Lukas facepalmed, muttering, "Skaði..."

Mikkel and Berwald looked at each other in confusion. "What's wrong?" the Dane asked, concerned.

"Nothing is necessarily _wrong,_ per se..." he muttered, sighing. "Let us just leave it at the fact that I am going to have _quite_ a bit of _fun_ the next few months..." He shook his head, walking into the kitchen.

"That was unexpected."

They whirled around to see Eiríkur leaning against the wall, a thoughtful look on his face. "Didn't see you there," Berwald muttered.

"Probably too busy watching to see if Lukas would try to kill you," the Icelander said. "By the way, I think that by leaving the room, Lukas wants you to leave the house too, because he's either making something for kveldsmat or he's going to try to get himself drunk again, and considering what's happened today it's probably the second. He'll probably call you guys sometime tomorrow afternoon to make you guys come here so he can explain some of what he thinks happened. So, see you idiots tomorrow."

On that note, he shut the door in their faces. The two Scandinavians blinked, staring at the closed door.

"Wait a second... how did he get us outside without us even realizing it?"

* * *

 **Translations:**

 **Stóri Bróðir (Icelandic) - Big brother**

 **Storebror (Norwegian) - Big Brother**

 **Bror (Norwegian) - Brother**

 **Lillebror (Norwegian) - Little Brother**

 **Du skremte meg (Norwegian) - You scared me**

 **Jeg Beklager (Norwegian) - I'm sorry**

 **Hva (Norwegian) - What**

 **It occurs to me that maybe** **Eiríkur took this a bit too well, though considering how he can see trolls, his mind is probably a bit more open to weird stuff happening to him. I'll also address it a bit more the next chapter.**

 **Also, if you really look at Norwegian history, it's kind of crappy after the Viking Age. Especially from the Black Death (where like 2/3 of the population died and pretty much set the stage for a lot of the other crap) on to the 20th century...**

 **So, how did he get them out the door without them noticing? Magic? Or them not paying any sort of attention to anything?**

 **Lastly, I started school on Monday. I don't know exactly how much time I'll have to write now, so please be patient with me if it takes awhile. I'm sort of trying to get my life together.**


	8. Åtte - Planer

**Åtte - Planer  
Eight - Plans**

Lukas groaned in pain, the massive headache killing him.

 _Why in Skaði's name did I think drinking that much aquavit and beer was a good thing? Wait... I woke up..._

He groaned again, this time not from the physical (or whatever you classify a headache as) pain, but from the mental.

Why did he have to go through the _torture_ of remembering all of those memories? While he would admit that a few of them were good, the vast majority of them... Well, he knew why he had always hated history in school. Not because he was bad at it- he was actually scarily good at it, though that makes complete sense now- but because it always felt so... bittersweet? Was that the word?

Unfortunately, that train of thought didn't last long, and he was back to wallowing in the horrible memories. (And the horrible hangover he had. Seriously, he hadn't had one this bad since that incident in 799...)

Finally, his headache abated enough for him to be able to raise his head. After a moment of blinking, he realized that there was a cup of coffee on his night stand next to his alarm clock. He gave a small smile. "Tusen takk, Eiríkur," he whispered, forcing himself to sit up to drink it.

At least he had someone who seemed to want to help him.

* * *

Eiríkur _hated_ what happened to his brother and wished that those two idiots had stayed away.

They may have acted like they were concerned about Lukas, but they weren't the ones that had had to deal with him last night. If there was one thing that the Icelander had _never_ wanted to see in his (apparently longer than he had thought) life, it was his older brother pretty much breaking down right in front of him.

He'd known that Norwegian history had been... not that good for most of it to say the least, but seeing his big brother trying to cope with having to remember everything... he felt like taking his anger out on everyone.

Eiríkur blinked, suddenly thinking of something. _Icelandic history hasn't been that good either... All of those famines and volcano eruptions and stuff..._

He involuntarily shivered, clutching his coffee mug tighter. _Do I really want to wake up as they decided to call it and remember all that?_ He forced the thought from his mind. _No... I want to stay with brother... Besides, he'll help me through it. I just have to make sure brother is going to be okay first._

His head shot up as soon as he heard a door open from the hall and he watched as Lukas came out of his room. The Norwegian immediately saw him, but quickly looked away before rushing to the kitchen.

Eiríkur looked up at the ceiling. "Thor, please smite those idiots. Please. I'm begging you."

A minute later, Lukas sat down across from him. "Morn," he muttered, still not looking at him.

"Middag."

"Hva?"

"Det er midt på dagen."

"Å."

They stayed silent for awhile until Eiríkur finally snapped, "Get over yourself." Lukas finally looked up at him in surprise, but he Icelander cut him off before saying anything. "Look, you've had to remember a bunch of horrible crap. I get that. But quit acting like it's the end of the freaking world, okay? Because it's really not. Got it?"

Lukas stared at him for a moment. Finally he exhaled, sounding almost like he was laughing. He shook his head. "I'm not going to be 'fine' for awhile," he admitted. "It'll take me a while to really recover from this. I never wanted to even think of some of the things I was forced to remember again."

"How much crap did you remember?" Eiríkur asked in alarm.

"Not everything," the Norwegian said, looking back down at his empty mug. "But not things I wanted too..."

Without even realizing he was doing it, the Icelander walked over to his brother and hugged him. He could tell that he was surprised, but the Norwegian instinctively hugged him back, clutching onto him even tighter.

"Hvers...?"

"Jeg aner ikke, lillebror. Jeg aner ikke..."

After a moment, Eiríkur pulled back. "By the way, can you quit talking in different dialects all the time?"

"What do you mean?" Lukas asked, confused.

"You've been switching dialects all the time since last night. It's getting annoying."

It took a moment for him to realize what his brother was saying, but as soon as he did, he sighed. "I'm so sorry... I have always had a bad habit of doing that..."

"Makes sense. There's way too dialects here and you're kind of the personification. It's just annoying."

Lukas looked at him, a thoughtful expression on his face. "You have been taking this well," he finally said.

Understanding the unspoken question he was asking, Eiríkur said, unconsciously switching to Icelandic, "I... I don't know how to explain it. It's just... I just somehow _know_ that I'm Iceland. It's just... it's instinctive, I guess."

His older brother gave a small, bitter smile. "I wish..." he trailed off, probably not knowing what to say.

Eiríkur looked up at him. "Are you... Are you going to be okay?" he asked, not even trying to keep the concern from his voice.

Lukas pulled him into a hug again, closing his eyes and whispering. "Det kommer til å gå bra skal du se. Jeg lover."

* * *

A couple of hours later, Lukas was sitting in front of the TV, attempting to keep his mind away from all of those memories. It was sort of working, thankfully.

While he was watching some slow TV and inwardly bursting with pride over his fjords, Eiríkur plopped down next to him, shoving his laptop in his lap. Lukas glanced over at him, slightly confused, before he looked at the screen. "Plane tickets to your land?" he asked, understanding.

"That sounds kind of weird," the Icelander muttered. "Probably will get over it really soon, though. Anyway, they have plane tickets to Ísafjörður in two days and I want to go to the Vestfirðir," he explained, unconsciously switching to Icelandic.

"The Westfjords?" Lukas asked, glancing down and reading the text and seeing that that was the one that he had pulled up. "They are extremely beautiful-"

"Thank you very much."

The Norwegian exhaled, making a sound that was as close to laughter as he usually got. _Even though he has not woken up, he's still ridiculously proud of his country._ He sobered, sighing before asking, "Are you sure that you want to-"

"Yes, so _hold kjeft,"_ Eiríkur hissed, glaring at him. "This is like the third time you've asked me and I am really getting sick of you-"

"I was just making sure," Lukas said, forcing a small smile on his face. It's not that he wanted his brother to stay here. It was just that he didn't want him to be forced to remember some of the worst times in his life. Yes, he would remember some of the good times they had had, but the ones that would really stick with them were the bad ones.

As he went to pay for the tickets, he realized that they would be leaving on the 18th, meaning that tomorrow was Eiríkur's birthday. He mentally smiled. _Look, little brother, you have finally grown enough to really be considered an adult. Now you can't really complain about it anymore,_ he thought, shaking his head fondly.

"Why are you shaking your head?"

Lukas glanced back over at Eiríkur, saying, "No reason. I just thought of something." After paying for the tickets and closing the laptop, he sighed, saying, "Do you still have Berwald's number saved on your phone? I would rather get that out of the way tonight."

"Are you sure?" Eiríkur asked, though he took out his phone and found the number, hesitating. "You really want to do that tonight?"

"No, I don't," he admitted. "But we will not have much of a chance to later."

"We can do it tomorrow."

 _No, we can't. I'm not going to push all this on you on your birthday, even if you say that you're fine with it._ Out loud, he said, "No. We have things to do tomorrow. Tonight is the best time."

He saw his brother glance at him out of the corner of his eyes, obviously not buying it. However, he just said, "Fine," before dialing the number and putting it on speaker.

They waited for a bit before it went to voicemail. "Ja, you've reached Berwald. Leave a message after this ends. Mikkel, Gilbert, no I will get dragged into whatever stupid thing you want. Stop asking."

The two brothers looked at each other in surprise, before Lukas shook his head and said, "Look, you two had better get over here because I am _not_ going to explain anything tomorrow and we are leaving the next day. _Forstår dere?"_

On that note, he reached over and ended the call before turning and asking, "Did you make dinner? I do not want to feed them, so it is best if we are done before they get here."

"...You're mean."

* * *

 **Translations:**

 **Tusen Takk (Norwegian) - Thank you very much (literally means a thousand thanks)**

 **Morn (Norsk) - Good morning; a sort of slang term for god morgen**

 **Middag (Norwegian) - Noon**

 **Hva (Norwegian) - What**

 **Det er midt på dagen (Norsk) - It's noon. (Yes, there's two different terms for noon and I haven't yet figured out what context you should use them in so please don't ask me.)**

 **Å (Norwegian) - Oh**

 **Hvers (Icelandic) - Why (Someone please correct me because this isn't right)**

 **Jeg aner ikke (Norsk) - I don't know (technically should be vet instead of aner, but some dialects use this so whatever)**

 **Det kommer til å gå bra skal du se (Norwegian) - It's going to be alright, you'll see**

 **Jeg lover (Norsk) - I promise**

 **Forstår dere? (Norwegian) - Do you (guys) understand?**

 **I forgot to say this last chapter, but aquavit has a higher alcohol content than Vodka. Can't remember the exact amount, but you kind of only drink it when you want to get drunk. As my friend said, "Lukas must have the highest alcohol tolerance ever."**

 **Different dialects- there are a ridiculous amount of dialects in Norway. It's not even funny. Thankfully for me, they'll switch to bokmål if you ask so I may be able to understand someone.**

 **The Westfjords are those northwest peninsulas of Iceland that look sort of like a fish tail. And they are really beautiful, go look up pictures.**

 **I hate this chapter so much. It didn't come out like I wanted it to. Sorry. Next chapter should be better and stuff will actually get explained... maybe.**


End file.
